Ferris High School football coach charged with rape of Moses Lake student
An assistant football coach at Ferris High School was arrested early Friday morning and charged with raping a 15-year-old Moses Lake High School student.
Charles Eglet, 29 was booked into Spokane County Jail Friday morning after being caught by a sting-operation at Northern Quest Resort and Casino in the Spokane-area by Washington State Patrol troopers. He faces two counts of third-degree child rape, third-degree child molestation and communicating with a child for immoral purposes.
Sgt. Dan McDonald with the Washington State Patrol, who led the investigation, said Eglet used Snapchat to contact underage girls and track their location through the app’s geolocation feature.
Snapchat, a mobile phone messaging service, can track the location of users who activate the feature on their profiles. Eglet’s account did not have the feature activated, McDonald said, which prevented the victim from realizing he wasn’t a peer.
Prior to the arrest, Eglet had been messaging the victim, a 15-year-old girl from Moses Lake.
“She keeps her circle pretty small, so she assumed he was a high school student,” McDonald said.
Some time after communications with Eglet began, the girl made a trip to the Northern Quest Resort and Casino with a family member in June, McDonald said. Eglet saw on her Snapchat account that she was in Spokane and “aggressively pursued contact with her,” asking her to meet with him, McDonald said.
The victim eventually agreed to see Eglet, still thinking he was a fellow-student, and slipped out of her hotel room. The victim saw Eglet and realized he was not who he said he was, she was “frightened and scared,” McDonald said.
Eglet repeatedly asked the victim if she wanted to have sex, McDonald said, and the victim said no. She tried several times to get away, trying to punch him and pull away from him, McDonald said.
Neither attempt to escape worked, McDonald said, and Eglet “escorted” the victim up to the hotel’s parking garage. McDonald said Eglet forced the girl to have sex in the back of his car.
After the incident, the victim and her mother reported the assault to authorities, and McDonald said the victim allowed him to impersonate her online.
McDonald convinced Eglet via Snapchat that the victim wanted to meet with him at the hotel where the original incident occurred. At the hotel, Eglet knocked on the door of the room McDonald said the victim would be in, when authorities arrested him late Thursday.
Eglet confessed to having had sex with the victim and that he was aware she was 15, McDonald said.
McDonald said that the victim deserved respect for coming forward, as many do not, and that coming forward may have prevented more people from being victimized.
The Spokane Public Schools district was made aware of the arrest Friday morning, according to a statement sent to media by Brian Coddington, a spokesman for the district.
“The allegations are very serious, and he has been placed on paid administrative leave while the district works with law enforcement to gather more information,” Coddington said.
Eglet had limited supervised duties related to the football program, and was not a teacher with the district, Coddington said.
Eglet’s arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 4 at the Spokane County Superior Court.
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